An Equusearch member holds up a missing persons poster as they started looking for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

An Equusearch member holds up a missing persons poster as they started looking for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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An Equusearch volunteers looks in a watery ditch in League City for Anne-Christine Johnson. Equusearch combed the wooded area for days, and will help League City police in their new search. ﻿

An Equusearch volunteers looks in a watery ditch in League City for Anne-Christine Johnson. Equusearch combed the wooded area for days, and will help League City police in their new search. ﻿

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer

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Equusearch members have been looking for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, since soon after she disappeared on Dec. 8.

Equusearch members have been looking for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, since soon after she disappeared on Dec. 8.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer

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Volunteers with EquuSearch use ATVs to look for Anne-Christine Johnson in League City. The missing 30-year-old woman was last seen on Dec. 8 in a white car with an unidentified man.

Volunteers with EquuSearch use ATVs to look for Anne-Christine Johnson in League City. The missing 30-year-old woman was last seen on Dec. 8 in a white car with an unidentified man.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer

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EquuSearch members look for 30-year-old Anne-Christine Johnson in League City. Johnson's mother, Stephanie Johnson, said of her missing daughter, "She loved nothing better than to talk with me over a glass of wine and smoke a cigarette to annoy me." less

EquuSearch members look for 30-year-old Anne-Christine Johnson in League City. Johnson's mother, Stephanie Johnson, said of her missing daughter, "She loved nothing better than to talk with me over a glass of ... more

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer

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Stephanie Johnson of Houston anxiously awaits word about her daughter Anne-Christine Johnson of League City, who went missing on Dec. 8, 2016, at the Texas EquuSearch command post in Dickinson. Johnson is a single mother of two children, including one with special needs.

Stephanie Johnson of Houston anxiously awaits word about her daughter Anne-Christine Johnson of League City, who went missing on Dec. 8, 2016, at the Texas EquuSearch command post in Dickinson. Johnson is a

Equusearch members on ATVs look for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Equusearch members on ATVs look for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Equusearch members look for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Equusearch members look for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Equusearch members on an ATV look around a pond area for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Equusearch members on an ATV look around a pond area for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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An Equusearch member looks for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

An Equusearch member looks for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Tim Miller, of Equusearch, center, goes over plans with other members before they began searching for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Tim Miller, of Equusearch, center, goes over plans with other members before they began searching for Anne-Christine Johnson, a missing 30-year-old woman, Thursday,Dec. 15, 2016 in League City.

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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League City police are still looking for leads in the disappearance of Anne-Christine Johnson, 30, who was last seen by her ex-husband.

League City police are still looking for leads in the disappearance of Anne-Christine Johnson, 30, who was last seen by her ex-husband.

Photo: League City Police Department

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League City man confesses to killing ex-wife to 'put her out of her misery'

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When police found the body of slain League City mother Anne-Christine Johnson, she was still wearing her Christmas pajamas.

Her ex-husband - with whom she'd had a long and volatile relationship - confessed to the brutal murder, telling police he stabbed then tried to suffocate her because he "wanted to see" her die, according to court documents made public on Tuesday.

Shaun Hardy, 32, admitted the killing after breaking down in sobs when police arrived Friday to search his suburban Galveston County home.

He was arrested after officers found a body - who the medical examiner later confirmed was his ex wife and the 30-year-old mother of two - stashed in the garage.

More Information

Numbers for Help:

AVDA 24-hour Crisis Hotline: 800-355-8547

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-SAFE

The fatal outburst comes amid a statewide rise in deadly domestic violence. Between 2014 and 2015, the number of women in Texas killed by male intimate partners jumped 20 percent, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence.

After three weeks of searching, local law enforcement finally realized last Friday that Johnson's troubled relationship had turned deadly when League City police showed up at her ex-husband's home with a search warrant to retrieve cell phones.

Hardy started sobbing as police searched the house, according to the probable cause affidavit.

When a detective drew near the garage, he noticed a "strong odor of decaying flesh" that only grew stronger as he opened the garage door.

Once inside the garage, the detective spotted an object - about the size of a human body - covered in dark plastic and duct tape.

Splayed around it were a number of scented candles.

Officers immediately put an end to their hunt and got a second search warrant.

At first, Hardy refused to talk to police without a lawyer present. But then he changed his mind and agreed to a recorded interview at the League City Police Department.

Hardy told officers that he threw his ex on the ground as hard as he could and left her there bleeding.

When Johnson held a knife to her chest as if to stab herself, Hardy kicked the hilt so hard he dented his shoe, according to the affidavit.

As Johnson coughed and gurgled, Hardy threw a Kroger bag over her head to put her "out of her misery."

"Shaun Philip Hardy's violent behavior against me has gotten so bad that he has assaulted me with a shotgun, threatened me with a knife, and choked me," Johnson wrote when filing for a protective order after the blow-up.

"I am afraid that without this protective order, Shaun Philip Hardy will continue to hurt me or even kill me in the future."

Johnson's court filings came on the heels of a similar set of paperwork from Hardy.

A judge granted both protective orders but canceled them before the end of the next month.

Now, she's become one a growing number of women whose current or former domestic partner turned into their accused killer.

In 2015, at least 158 women were killed by an intimate male partner, TCFV data shows.

"It's the highest number we've ever seen in terms of fatalities," said the council's director of policy, Aaron Setliff.

More than three-quarters of those fatalities were in a home and 37 percent of the victims were women who - like Johnson - had taken steps to end a problem relationship.

"There is a misperception that once they leave they're safe," said Sherri Kendall, CEO of a Houston-based non-profit called Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse.

Part of the problem could also be a lack of education and resources.

"There were 72,000 people served in domestic violence programs last year - and a turnaway rate of about 39 percent," Setliff said. Oftentimes, that's simply due to a lack of beds, he said.

"As long as we have this turnaway number there's not as much of a safety valve as we would want," he said. "This is the highest fatalities number we've seen, so we're trying to think about why we're in this place."